A judge in Franklin County extended his restraining order Thursday that pauses Gov. Mike DeWine’s ban on sales of “intoxicating” hemp, like edibles and drinks with delta-8 THC or similar ingredients.
Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Carl Aveni rescheduled the next hearing in the case for Dec. 2, according to court documents.
In a lawsuit filed earlier in October, hemp retailers and manufacturers argued DeWine acted outside his authority as governor by unilaterally banning sales for 90 days of what the state calls intoxicating hemp.
“It is statutory law that products containing ‘hemp’ and ‘hemp products’ are not adulterated,” the lawsuit reads. “Yet, (Gov.) DeWine’s basis for invoking emergency is that these products are adulterated.”
Aveni’s extension came just one day after the Ohio House advanced a bill revising cannabis laws and more strictly regulating other THC, including by establishing a regulatory structure for intoxicating hemp. Under the latest version of Senate Bill 56, retailers who want to sell it would need licensure to do so, although SB 56 carves out CBD and THC drinks.
The Senate still has to sign off on the changes, and is unlikely to okay them outright, Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said Wednesday.
“It’s a brand new regulatory scheme,” McColley said. “I’m sure there are going to be members who are going to have some issues.”
Since late 2023, DeWine has hassled lawmakers to regulate intoxicating hemp products. It has been mostly touch and go on how to handle the gray area the federal government created in 2018, when Congress removed cannabis products with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC from the definition of marijuana. Most products contain psychoactive ingredients that still induce a high, but are legal at any age.
In early 2024, however, DeWine said he could not “do anything without action by the state legislature.”
